James Holmes faces 152 charges in the July shooting at a midnight premiere of the latest Batman movie that killed 12 people and injured 5.

James Holmes is being held on charges in the shooting at an Aurora, Colo., theatre on July 20 that killed 12 people and wounded 52.

Published on Fri Sep 28 2012

DENVER—The suspect in the deadly Colorado theatre attack threatened a professor and was banned from his university campus before one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history, prosecutors said Friday.

Newly released court documents gave an important look at a case whose details have been kept largely out of public view. James Holmes faces 152 charges in the July shooting at a midnight premiere of the latest Batman movie that killed 12 people and injured 5.

His lawyers argue he is mentally ill, raising the possibility that Holmes will plead not guilty by reason of insanity.

The documents say the threat is why the University of Colorado revoked Holmes’ access to campus. The name of the professor Holmes threatened has been blacked out.

Prosecutors say the professor reported the threats to the university, and Holmes was denied access to campus “as a result of these actions.”

Just minutes before the shooting, Holmes tried unsuccessfully to call his university psychiatrist, defence attorneys have said.

Psychiatrist Lynne Fenton, a professor at the school, also received a notebook in the mail from Holmes that reportedly contains violent descriptions of an attack. She didn’t open the package until after the attack, and defence attorneys don’t want it to be used as evidence, saying it’s protected by doctor-patient privilege.

Prosecutors have said the doctor-patient relationship ended on June 11, weeks before the attack, when Fenton last saw Holmes professionally.

In other court documents, defence attorneys say the prosecutors’ allegations are false, based on university statements. The university has said Holmes was denied access to non-public parts of the campus because he had withdrawn from school.

In court, prosecutors raised the prospect that Holmes was angry at the failure of a once-promising academic career and stockpiled weapons, ammunition, tear gas grenades and body armour as his research deteriorated and professors urged him to get into another profession. After the theatre shooting, Holmes’ apartment was found rigged with explosives.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Karen Pearson said Holmes failed a key oral exam in June, was banned from campus and began to voluntarily withdraw from the school.

Prosecutors and defence attorneys had asked that court documents be sealed to preserve an ongoing investigation and protect Holmes’ right to a fair trial.

The judge’s order noted that some information contained in court documents had been divulged in court and that placing limits on what’s released balances the public’s First Amendment rights to see the court file with prosecutors’ and defence attorneys’ concerns.